The Team
by Baradine
Summary: Naruto's a fool, but not an idiot. Sasuke's power hungry, but not insane. Sakura's annoying, but not useless. See the perfect team come into existence, guided by a powerful shinobi. Smart!Naruto, Konoha!Sasuke, and Powerful!Sakura. Not Yaoi.
1. Team 7

AN: This will be a, hopefully_, _extremely long novel. By the time it's finished I believe it will be well over 500,000 words. This will be a fairly Naruto centric fic, but there will a very large amounts of Sasuke and Sakura, as they are this story's fictional Triumvirate.

As you can probably tell, Sasuke and Sakura will act much differently compared to their canon counterparts. That's all I'll give, since I don't want to ruin the story for you. But if you can guess some differences, well I won't hide it from you. Correctly guessing a spoiler will be your internet cookie.

Anyway, you'll find out what's so different about our three main characters is a bit. And so with much hoopla, but no further ado, here is 'The Team'.

Oh, yes, I Forgot will be put on hiatus until this story is finished, as I like this one better, and The Perfect Ninja will be put on permanent hiatus. I just really don't like that story. I think it's boring and I hate the premise. I'll leave it for a few days, so if anyone wants to adopt (which I doubt they will) contact me, and I'll have it arranged. Otherwise, it's going down in a week or so.

XXXXXX

A genius they called me.

I don't know about that. I mean, I never thought of myself as too smart or too clever, just a big muscle head. But I suppose that's not what they meant when they said 'genius'. What they meant was I'm the first person to graduate younger than twelve in, well, twelve years. They asked why I said I wasn't a smart person. Then they proceeded to tell me I'm the first person to graduate with a perfect one hundred percent in twenty seven years. The last one to do it was the Yondaime Hokage, and they said I graduated at the same age as him, too. Ten years old and I'm already a ninja.

The reason I don't think I'm too smart is because I was the dead last of my class. I skipped all the time, and only showed up on the days I wanted to, or when I would actually be held back a year if I didn't show. I never studied, read or listened to the lectures, so every test I took was in the range of sixty to seventy.

So, for three years I stayed on the same monotonous routine, practicing my taijutsu, chakra control and what not for all that time (not like I had anything better to do!), and then just a few months after school started during my fourth year (I only turned ten nine days ago!), some kid asked about graduating early. The teacher, what's-his-face, replied that if a student could pass the final test, consisting of the academy three, which we hadn't gotten around to yet, a written exam and a taijutsu/tools exam, aforementioned student could graduate.

Now this perked my attention, as school was boring as hell, and if I could get out of here any sooner, the better. So after class I asked him about it, and he said there was no way I could graduate early, I hadn't even learned those three jutsu he mentioned yet. I asked him to teach me. He said he'd humor me, teach me one jutsu and that's it.

He asked me to stand back, and he showed me the seals for a technique, the Henge he called it, performed it, and turned into a perfect copy of me. He then told me to transform into him.

So I did.

As he was standing there bug-eyed, I asked him what the problem was. He quickly schooled his facial features, and told me he changed his mind, he was going to teach me one more technique, and I could get this down just as quickly, he'd teach me the last one.

So he showed me the seals for a jutsu called the Bunshin, and told me it was a jutsu that used a very small amount of chakra. If he hadn't of told me this, I was pretty sure it would taken two tries to get it down, as I somehow had the biggest pile of chakra I've ever heard of in a ten year old. But, thankfully, he _did _tell me, so it was a cinch.

I thought he was about to faint as he wordlessly showed me the seals for the next jutsu, then performed it himself. I'd actually heard of this one, so his silence didn't hinder my knowledge any. It was the Kawarimi.

My teacher said nothing; he simply motioned for me to go. I replaced myself with a desk.

He fell over unconscious.

After I'd revived the little pansy, he told me I had one week to prepare myself for the test. I didn't have go to school during that time, simply practice and study. He told me the test would cover everything in the book I had and the other two books he gave me.

So I trained for one week. After reading the three books cover to cover around twenty times or so, I decided to practice those ninjutsu. Soon, after an hour or two, I was able to use the jutsus to a maximum efficiency. They were only E-ranks, not too much of an accomplishment. So I just did more chakra control and taijutsu practice, with a bit of review, for the next six days.

The day of the test arrived, and simply put, I aced it, as I've stated before. The proctors were dumbfounded, yadda yadda, whatever!

I asked them when I would be placed on a team. They were dumbfounded, not only because I had skated through the exam like a pro, but also because _two others _had done it on the same day I did. They quickly talked to the Hokage, and they said I would be placed on a team right now. My teammates were Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. My team leader would be some dude named Hatake Kakashi. Seriously, what kind of asshole names his son scarecrow? I suppose I should be asking myself the same question though, my name isn't exactly the epitome of class.

I'd actually never met any other guys before. Sure, I'd heard of the Uchiha, after that little coup they had, everyone had, but no Sasuke, only Itachi and that dipshit Fugaku. I've _never _heard of a Haruno, especially not a Sakura. And this jounin I had on my hands was either so under the radar it wasn't even funny, or I was just landed with some pathetic weirdo. I had a gut feeling, however, it was neither. So, against my better judgment I went...

To the Library...!

Okay, that was kind of dumb, but so what? It was funny right? Right! I swear to god I hear _somebody _whisper 'wrong...', but I went to the library anyway.

I figure out that I'm actually partnered up with a legendary S-ranked jounin, and the son of the asshole that started that little coup, and the brother of the saint that killed the motherfucker. Still no clue who that Haruno chick is, except for the _oh so detailed _fact that she has pink hair.

What the fuck!

So, here I am, walking down the street to the seventh training ground (Apparently there was some need to have the teams using training grounds matched to their name. Seriously though, whoever has training ground forty-four _has _to be a grade A bad ass), going to meet my teammates, for what I am sure is to be a happy, _beautiful _greeting.

Sarcasm aside, I hope I'm not too fucked, because getting out of school _just _to be paired up with a bunch of assholes is just _waaaaaay _too freaking much. Hah! See, I don't swear all the time, you bastard old man.

As I see them on a bridge to the training grounds, I realize the gods hated me. A little pansy with long pink hair, a freaky silver haired man with his stupid headband over his left eye, and some brooder with stupidly spiky hair. Fuck you, I'm not a hypocrite!

The brooder takes one look at my stupid face and sighs, and I realize I am definitely boned.

So here shall be my greeting to my beloved team: 'Hi, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I just got fucked over by Kami. How are you?'

XXXXXX

As Naruto walked onto the bridge, Kakashi smiled. His mask crinkled slightly, and his eye turned into a U-shape. Naruto simply looked at the man like he was an idiot, walked three feet, and leaned against the bridge's railing.

Kakashi simply kept on smiling. He then walked into the middle of the bridge, clapped his hands together flamboyantly, and said, "Alright then! Since our last teammate has finally arrived, we'll start with basic team exercises."

His students seemed to perk up a little at this, Naruto standing up straighter, Sakura giving him her full attention, and Sasuke turned his head ever so slightly.

They waited.

For thirty incredibly awkward seconds, Kakashi simply stood facing toward the genin, his eye giving a soon to become infernal shape, his mask in the same position. Sasuke surprisingly broke first. He fully turned around, his eye twitching savagely, and stated,_calmly_, "And _what_, would these exercises be?"

Still keeping his eye in that U shape, he stated, far too cheerily, "I'm glad you asked!" Naruto thought he heard a vein pop, "Our first exercise will be..." He let the statement hang for a few seconds, and with perfect timing he added,

"Introductions!"

All three of the genin face faulted, the bridge shaking with the impact.

Kakashi still kept his face in the same expression.

As the mildly confused and a bit more than mildly irked genin rose, Kakashi said, "To spare you some trouble I'll go first."

Once again, his student's perked up, a little more wary this time, however. Seeing he had his student's attention, he continued, "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like things, and I dislike other things. I have lots of hobbies. My dream for the future... you'd be too young to understand," He kept his face smiling during the entire deal.

After controlling his facial features, Naruto spoke up, "I'll guess go next then."

Kakashi finally stopped smiling that damn smile, so Naruto continued, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and crossword puzzles. I dislike _you _and school," Kakashi seemed to glare at him, which in turn made Naruto all happy inside, "My hobbies are gardening and training, I suppose. I don't have any dreams for the future," Naruto's last statement made Kakashi raise an eyebrow.

"Oh, and why don't you have any dreams for the future?" he asked.

"You'd be too young to understand," Naruto replied. Kakashi eyes seemed to twitch at that.

"I suppose I'll go next," It was Sasuke that said this. Sakura seemed to get a little more interested at this, but not too much, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like tomatoes and my older brother. I dislike missing ninja and my deceased clan," Now _that _was more than a little surprising, "My hobbies are training and taking walks. My dream for the future is to kill a man who is supposed to be long dead.

'_Interesting..._' Kakashi thought.

Sakura looked to be paying full attention. Naruto looked like he could care less.

Sakura was the last one to introduce herself, "I guess I'm last. My name is Haruno Sakura. I like dumplings and my parents. I dislike swearing and idiots," she seemed to get irritated as she overheard Naruto mumble 'Well I'm fucked'.

She glared at him and continued, "My hobbies are playing trivia games and learning new things. My dream for the future is to become a great kunoichi recognized for my ability in combat, not some support position."

Now that really surprised the rest of the team. Naruto and Sasuke were simply surprised that the girl wanted become a great kunoichi. Kakashi was more intrigued, as the goal seemed like a subtle jab at Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin, known for her healing abilities. 'Do those two have some sort of history?' Kakashi thought.

"Quite a lofty goal. How are you going to accomplish it?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura answered, "How do you think?"

Kakashi seemed to wait for her to finish, but she simply stayed quiet, and refused to elaborate. Looking at her for a few seconds, he turned away from his students, pensive.

'_It's a little tough to judge their personalities. Sasuke's the easiest to read, a little surprisingly. He is a bit of a loner, but doesn't seem to _actively _turn from human relations. I wonder who it is he wants to kill..._

'_Naruto seems be a bit sarcastic in his manner, but I doubt that is all there is to him. He was obviously lying about his dream for the future. Why would he be so protective?_

'_Sakura is the most guarded of the three. That dream of hers is quite confusing. It would probably be a bad idea to simply have her be the genjutsu specialist of the team. Perhaps some taijutsu to help build her stamina. Of course, they have to pass the test first..._'

After a few seconds of pondering, Kakashi turned around, smile back on his face, and said, "Well then, since that's all over, let's start the next exercise! I trust you all have your equipment?" At their nods, he started walking to the training ground, stating, "Then follow me."

He walked over to three wooden poles that were on the edge of the field. He then turned around to face his students and pulled out two bells.

He then said, "The next exercise will be survival training. You will-" He stopped to see Sakura raising her hand. He gestured for her to speak her piece.

She said, "Well, I'm not sure about these two, but I've already had survival training," She seemed to be slightly confused about the situation.

He continued, with a mild chuckle, "Let's just say this will be different than your _average _survival training."

It was Naruto that spoke up this time, with a suspicious squint, "Oh? How so?"

Kakashi replied, "Well, let me explain the rules of the test. Your job is to secure one of the two bells I have in my hand here," He then proceeded to attach the bells to his belt and continued, "Other than that, there are no rules. I will say one thing, however. If you do not come at me with the intent to kill, there will be no way you're going to get one of these bells," seeing Sakura's concern, he continued, "Don't worry about actually killing me though. Something like that would simply be impossible for you guys," Kakashi's smile seemed to widen even more as the two boys looked like they took that as a personal challenge.

He then took out an alarm clock, and set it. He then told the genin, "You have 'till twelve to accomplish this. Whoever has a bell will pass," All three genin narrowed their eyes at this, "Oh, and one last bit of information. If you _do _fail the test, you'll be sent back to the academy for another year!" He waited a second for it to sink in.

Then all hell broke loose.

A big eruption of sound, ranging from "You can't do this!" to "What the hell?" and something that sounded suspiciously like, "Shit, more school?"

Raised his voice ever so slightly, and forcefully said, "Enough," It wasn't particularly a yell, but it had the same amount of force.

"Time starts," He hit the button.

"Now!"

He honestly expected all of them to hide, or maybe one of them to jump away then attack. However what he really didn't expect was for one of them to attack him right off the bat. Right as the other two jumped away, Naruto came right at him with a straight punch heading directly for his face. He blocked the strike, slightly surprised at how much force a ten year old could pack. Naruto then surprised Kakashi by flipping over and bringing down his foot in an ax kick toward Kakashi's head. Kakashi was able to spin out of the way, and used his momentum to strike at Naruto with a backhand. Kakashi widened his eyes as he forgot to hold back his strength and speed, but it seemed like Naruto was able to block the strike, although the force of the blow sent him barreling into the river.

Once again, Naruto surprised Kakashi, in a very big way. Instead of plowing into the river like Kakashi expected, he slid into the water, coming to a stop on top. Naruto then proceeded to make a handseal, shaking Kakashi out of his reverie. He saw two regular bunshin come into existence right beside Naruto.

Kakashi snorted slightly. '_Bunshin? All you have to do is check for the footsteps. Heck, his bunshin are so bad they don't even have a shadow!_'

Now, Kakashi is an elite ninja. However, this was a fresh out of the academy, green as grass, ten year old _genin_. He thought by not taking out his book he was _overestimating _him. For the most part, it should have been perfectly acceptable for Kakashi to think that. Right now, he had limited his senses and skills to about a mid chuunin level. That would be more than enough to defeat a fresh genin one on one. Once again, Kakashi was completely correct in assuming that Naruto _is not _chuunin level. However, what he didn't take into account was a strategy that actually incorporated subterfuge. He also forgot, if for the slightest of seconds, that this child had graduated from the academy with a perfect one hundred percent. His bunshin would have to be perfect.

Naruto charged at Kakashi, sending his bunshin first. He easily dismissed the clones, simply letting their fists pass through him, dispelling the clones automatically. He was a little surprised, however, when he made the clearing fill with bunshin. That made them a little harder to detect. He also noticed that there were more than one sets of foot prints. This made him think that Naruto somehow had some type of physical clone, but he soon deduced the ruse. He saw all the Naruto's making motions with their mouths. Naruto was mimicking the sound of footsteps with his voice, and then throwing his voice as well, in several different spots as well.

Kakashi smiled a bit as he regarded the situation. The kid might not have any other techniques than the academy three, but he certainly knew how to use them. The kid was pretty smart, too. However, it was going to take more than that to defeat him. Kakashi thought it was time for an elemental jutsu, and fired off a technique in a direction that had the lowest probability of Naruto being there.

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**," Kakashi said, blowing a fairly small fireball directly in front of him.

Even though it was a C-rank jutsu, he toned it down to make it about a D-rank, but gave it enough range to clear out more than half of the bunshin. He then used a very simple E-ranked wind jutsu to clear out the rest, but a few of the bunshin had jumped out of the way, and were able to avoid being dispelled.

There were about six bunshin left, and all of them were making footstep sounds. Kakashi was slightly impressed, being able to manipulate one's own voice like that, but was also slightly disappointed. Even with the footstep sounds, they still had no shadows.

Kakashi heard one of the footsteps behind him, and turned his head ever so slightly to get a glimpse.

He widened his eyes. This bunshin had a shadow! '_Shit he can make elemental clones? Damn, it almost got me- oh! Very clever, Naruto. Making it seem like all these bunshin didn't have a shadow, so that one would come behind _with _a shadow, making me think it was a real clone. Then, once I overextended from my strike slipping through the bunshin, he would rush in and grab the bells. A pretty good strategy, but not enough_,' He simply turned around and began to advance on Naruto.

*_Clink*_

He widened his eyes as he heard the sound, and looked at his left side. The bells were gone! He looked back at Naruto, and saw the kids smirk. He suddenly realized what Naruto's real plan was, and he had played right into his hand.

"I see... You wanted me to think that it wasn't a real bunshin didn't you? But when did you create it? I was pretty sure that there was no Tsuchi Bunshin that sprung up," Kakashi asked, genuinely confused.

"It was when I made those first regular bunshin," Naruto replied, "Mizu Bunshin is the only other ninjutsu that I actually know how to do, so I mastered it to the point that I was able to use it with only one handseal, even when using a different technique at the same time. I created it under the bridge where you couldn't see it, then had it sneak around. Pretty good strategy, huh?" He seemed a little _too _proud of himself, and had quite a big grin plastered on his face, but he would probably wipe that off in a few seconds.

He decided to apply the final test, "Well, Naruto looks like you passed. But you have both of my bells. Who's going to get the other bell?" This is where he would probably fail, be sent back to the academy, and then pass next year. Actually, the kid had some pretty good potential. He might take him on as an apprentice or something, hammering into him the point of this lesson all the while

The other two genin hopefuls decided to make their appearance. They both stood in front of Naruto, expressions unreadable. Naruto looked extremely conflicted. He started pacing back and forth, arguing with himself, saying under his breath something that Kakashi interpreted as "God damn it, I don't _want _to go back to school though.". Kakashi's eyes widened. Did he find out the purpose of the test?

Naruto finally stopped pacing, sighed, and walked forward in front of his two teammates. Turning his body sideways, he surprised both of the genin by tossing both bells in their respective directions. He then started walking away without a word.

'_Looks like he didn't actually find out the purpose of the test, but he passed anyway. Looks like I finally have to take a genin team..._'

Sakura seemed affronted, "But Naruto, you were the one who got the bells! You should be the one who graduates."

To that, Naruto snorted, and without turning around or stopping, replied, "Whatever. You guys need the charity. I mean, what did you get on the test, _99's_? What a bunch of losers..."

Sakura, looked slightly offended at this, but after a second, realized what Naruto meant, and smiled. She then glared at Kakashi and said, "If being on a team with the _great Hatake Kakashi_," Looks like she did her homework, "means I have to throw out a cool guy like _that_, then no thank you!" She then threw her bell on the ground, _very _harshly, and ground it into the dirt angrily, and ran out of the clearing.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke, expectantly. Sasuke then tch'd, and said, "What's a team of one worth?" and tossed his bell at Kakashi. He was gone a second later.

Kakashi waited for a few seconds to pass, and then smiled his first genuine smile today.

"Flawless victory guys. Absolutely flawless," he then shunshin'd out of the clearing to report to the Hokage.

XXXXXX

Naruto was walking down the road, counting the money in his wallet, making sure he had enough to buy some groceries. He looked down at himself and saw his baggy black and blue jumpsuit and saw several tears. He grimaced as he thought of the extra dent that would bring to replace it. He liked that suit...

"Naruto!"

He widened his eyes and turned around to the source of the voice. He heard Sakura running towards him, and he raised his eyebrow.

"Sakura, what are you doing here? Don't you have the rest of that exercise to do with Kakashi?" Naruto asked.

"Nah, I figured that if a ninja that could get the bells from a _jounin _didn't pass, then I just don't deserve to be a ninja. The guy was an ass anyway," she explained.

Naruto looked amused as he pointed something out, "I thought you hated swearing?"

She looked embarrassed as she shouted, "Shut up!" she then flushed again as some people looked at her strangely, then continued, "I only use them when other, more _eloquent_, words just don't fit the bill."

"Well damn, looks like we'll get along fine. So why- ouch!" he looked up in anger at being hit in the head.

"What was that for!" he asked, obviously angry.

"That wasn't one of those situations," Sakura replied. Naruto seemed to widen his eyes, smiled, and then laughed.

"Wow. We really _are _going to get along well. I understand getting a little angry over what happened, but what did you chase me down for?" Naruto asked.

Sakura replied without missing a beat, "I thought that, since we're the same age, we could get transferred into classes together, and then graduate together at the end of the year. If I could get a strong ninja on my team, I'd have a better chance to actually grow strong before I die," seeing a bit of offense in his eyes, she hastily added, "Don't get me wrong though, I think it would be pretty cool being on a team with you even if you _weren't _tough."

Naruto scoffed. He then said, "I'm not really that strong. He just underestimated me, and I was smart enough to take advantage of that. Twenty nine times out of thirty he would have annihilated me, even if he _was _holding back like he did," Sakura looked a little confused at his last statement.

"He was holding _back_? How could you tell?" she asked.

He looked at her like she was a bit of an idiot, and said, "You serious? He's an S-class jounin. The second I ran out there he could have annihilated every bunshin I had and killed me in an instant. The only way I could beat him is if he was sleeping, had earplugs, and was heavily drugged. And I would still need the luck of the Gods to even close to the guy."

She seemed to accept this as an answer, and then changed the subject, "So how about my offer? Want to go for the same team?"

"Well, if he wants to, I'm in."

Naruto and Sakura looked up and to the left, and saw Sasuke looking down at them with a smirk.

"Are you now? Well, it looks like I'm outvoted. I guess we'll go for a team. Want to go get a bite why we work out the details?" Naruto asked.

He was heralded with a chorus of "Sure".

XXXXXX

Kakashi arrived right outside the Conference Room where there were some other jounin dealing with the late grads. Those who had failed on their last test usually graduated right after the end of the first quarter of the next year. He had made record time. He was only thirty minutes late.

He contemplated waiting an hour or so outside the door with his chakra signature completely unsuppressed, but decided no one could handle _that _amount of awesome. He walked in the door, slightly surprising those who thought he wouldn't be there for another hour or so. He said to the Hokage, "Hatake Kakashi here to report on the fate of Team 7."

The Hokage, who had been looking over some papers, looked up. He said, "Ah yes. That's Naruto's team isn't it? Continue please,"

Kakashi cleared his throat, and said, "Well, Team 7 passes," More than a few intakes of breathe there, "The only one I was able to evaluate in combat was Naruto. His taijutsu is very well developed for a genin. I saw only two jutsu from him, but he executed them with an extremely high mastery," this surprised more than a few people.

"While his overall ninjutsu may only be genin level, his mastery of the two jutsus is of at least a chuunin level, being able to use both simultaneously, and with one seal. I wouldn't place the mastery higher, as they are fairly simple techniques. I didn't particularly see any genjutsu use, but I suppose he didn't need any, as he got the bells by himself, albeit I was holding back, but I _was _at approximately chuunin level," Now this surprised _everyone _even the Hokage.

He continued, "He was able to outwit me. He seems to have an extremely high level of intelligence, and is also extremely perceptive, and proved to be quite a strategist as well. I'll have to give him an I.Q. test later to appropriately gauge his potential. He also has extremely high chakra reserves as well. I wasn't able to see either Sakura or Sasuke in battle, but they showed an appropriate amount of teamwork in their own way, so I passed the team."

The Hokage looked to be going over some paperwork, and then signed a document. He then said, "Alright, Kakashi, you're free to go."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

XXXXXX

"Alright, so, after we get transferred to Sasuke's class, because it has the most seats open, Sakura will go for the best kunoichi, Sasuke will go for the best shinobi, and I'll go for dead last? Sounds like I got the easy job... so I like it!" Naruto said after hearing Sakura and Sasuke's plan for the academy.

Sasuke smirked, "Glad you do."

After finishing up his ramen, Naruto leaned back and sighed, "Well, I'm stuffed. I'll see you later guys, I gotta go buy some groceries, and replace my suit."

"See ya' later, Naruto," they said in unison.

"Hey, hey, where are you going so soon?"

The three ex-genin looked over at their former silver haired sensei that had just entered the stand, Sakura with a bit of glare.

Sasuke was the first to speak, "Can we help you?" He seemed to be more than a little annoyed, if his forced cordial tone was anything to go by.

"Why, yes. Yes you can. Follow me back to the training grounds, and I'll explain," Kakashi replied, eye-smiling all the while.

Sakura looked at him in slight annoyance and anger. Mostly anger.

"And _why _would we do that?" she asked.

"Because, believe me, you'll like what I have in store for you."

XXXXXX

As the quartet arrived at the field, Naruto spoke up, "So what is it that we're going to like so much?"

Kakashi replied with a knowing smile, "You'll see."

He walked them over to the three poles that the genin had gathered around when he had started the test a few hours ago. He then sat down right in front of the middle wooden pole and motioned for them to sit down.

He then sighed, and started, "You know, I was going to have whoever did the worst on this test tied up to one of these poles and then have eaten lunch in front of whoever it was. After that, I would give the two who did better than the one tied up one bento each, told you not give the detainee any, and left, hiding my presence, and keeping watch behind a tree.

"Do you know why?" he asked.

"Because you're a sadistic asshole?" Naruto offered. His face was studying the ground not a moment later, courtesy of Sakura.

Kakashi chuckled, "Close, but not quite. I wanted to see if one of you would disobey my rules, and give the one who was tied up some food."

They all looked fairly confused, but Naruto seemed to finally start to get the picture.

"But, why would we disobey a superior? It's against the rules. Insubordination," It was Sakura who supplied the somewhat cookie cutter response.

Kakashi looked at her for a second, completely serious, then looked at all three of the ex-genin, and said, "Because of a phrase I heard. They were some the wisest words any ninja had ever spoken. I suppose you've never heard them before, so I'll spare you the question. They were, 'Sure, any ninja who disobeys the rules are trash. But any ninja who abandons his teammates is even _worse _than trash'. The whole point of this exercise, the entire concept, is teamwork," Comprehension seemed to dawn on Naruto's face, though the others were still at a little of a loss towards where this was going, "You guys think you failed the test, throwing down your chance at passing for a person you just met, because you felt it was the right thing to do."

"But what you guys really did, was pass with flying colors," he finished. Sakura and Sasuke widened their eyes, Naruto just looked reaffirmed.

"Congratulations, you are now Team 7," Kakashi said, his statement causing Sakura to yell in pure joy, Sasuke to smile and laugh a little, and Naruto just to smile at the situation.

XXXXXX

Not too much to say here. I hope you like it, and I hope that my decision to focus on this story is a good one.

Here's the jutsu list:

Henge- Transformation Technique

Bunshin- Clone Technique

Kawarimi- Body Replacement Technique

Katon: Gōkakyū Jutsu- Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique

Doton: Tsuchi Bunshin- Earth Style: Earth Clone Technique

Suiton: Mizu Bunshin- Water Style: Water Clone Technique

Shunshin- Body Flicker


	2. The C Ranker: Part I

Alright, here we go. I got some good reception from that last chapter, so I'll try to make this one even better.

There are little clues about the changes I have made in this chapter, and you might just find out what they are. What may seem like a plot hole may just be that change. Or it could be just a plot hole. Hopefully not.

XXXXXX

It had been one week since Naruto and his team had passed the gennin exams. The day after he graduated the exams, Naruto was ready and eager for training and missions. While he knew he wouldn't be saving princesses, he did hope there would be some action.

He surprised at the level of the tasks that he was presented with. The capture of a dangerous beast, transportation of important objects, and the guarding of exotic animals.

Capturing cats, doing groceries, and walking dogs respectively.

He was seriously pissed. He could understand guard duty or something, but odd jobs! It was just stupid.

At least the training was good. Kakashi was certainly no slacker when he came to teaching. He taught the other two tree walking on the second day, and Sakura was currently learning water walking. Naruto already knew tree walking and water walking, but that was about the extent of his chakra control. Kakashi had him working on an another chakra exercise, one that may be less practical, but was still more difficult. He definitely felt his taijutsu improving, and Kakashi had taught his team a bit about breaking genjutsu, and even taught all of them a simple one that fooled the sense of smell.

Along with the genjutsu and taijutsu training, Naruto's team did an almost obnoxious amount of teamwork exercises. They were a pretty close knit group, but their teamwork wasn't really anything to write home about. They had the basic positions down flat, and were now working on more advanced maneuvers.

As for ninjutsu, it was going along fairly nicely, at least in Naruto's opinion. Kakashi had decided to see if the team knew any ninjutsu, other than the three from the academy. Sasuke showed that he was able to use the jutsu that Kakashi used on Naruto, the **Gōkakyū **technique. Naruto simply reaffirmed that he knew the **Mizu Bunshin **technique. Sakura didn't know any extra ninjutsu, although she did know a larger amount of genjutsu than the boys. So Kakashi decided to teach his team one ninjutsu this week, although nothing particularly advanced, like elemental techniques, although the boys already knew one each. He decided to teach Naruto and Sakura a basic **Shunshin **technique, only a D-rank, as they had the chakra control required for it. The basic premise for this particular brand of Shunshin was to focus chakra into the users legs, then expel it when kicking off the ground. This technique required an extremely large amount of chakra for a gennin, so Sakura was only able to use the technique twice per day in order for her not to be completely exhausted. Naruto, in a testament to his vastly superior chakra reserves, and slightly superior control, was able to do the technique six times per day without even breaking a sweat. Kakashi assumed he could do it a maximum of twelve times per day, around twelve less than Kakashi himself could do. Quite an incredible feat from a ten year old gennin, even more than one might expect from someone born of such a high pedigree.

Kakashi taught Sasuke something a little easier on control, and a bit easier on the reserves. The technique was called the **Uchiwagan **(Fan Eye). It was a technique created by the Uchiha to help other Uchiha activate their famed doujutsu, and to grow used to its effects. It is only usable by those with Uchiha genes in them, and as Kakashi has a Sharingan eye, he uses the technique on his right eye to level out the perception. The technique allowed for heightened perception, and a quicker overall reaction time, though none of the other Sharingan abilities were able to be copied. It did, however, have a drawback, as the technique wore heavily on the reserves, and Sasuke was only able to use it for ten minutes without breathing hard. Still, the boy had fairly high reserves, more than most average twelve year old gennins, although still not at Naruto's level.

But still, the D-ranks were boring Naruto, and as he believed, destabilizing his psyche. '_Hopefully_,' Naruto thought as he walked to the 7th training ground bridge, '_We'll be getting one of those C-rank missions soon. What could be better than testing out my skills against a bandit?_'

Ah, dramatic irony.

XXXXXX

Kakashi walked into the Hokage's office, after being told he was clear to go in, and stopped five feet from the Sandaime's desk, waiting patiently for the Hokage to finish what he was doing. It was a fairly important task, and there was no way that Kakashi was rude enough to stop him.

After a minute, the Sandaime looked up from his book, widened his eyes a little, and hastily stuffed the orange masterpiece in his desk drawer. He cleared his throat, cheeks reddened slightly, and spoke,

"U-um, Kakashi, what brings you here today?"

Kakashi smiled his little eye smile, and said, "I am here on behalf of Team 7. They have completed the required amount of D-rank missions, and I wish to request a C-rank for my team."

Hiruzen looked at Kakashi with an expression that said 'Are you stupid or something?', and said, "Seven D-ranks _are _the minimum amount, that is true, but they are teamwork building exercises. I do have reports and recommendations for the teams fairly decent teamwork, but I really don't think it's enough for a C-rank. Unless you can tell me why their teamwork is actually beyond this standard, I'll have to deny this request."

Kakashi replied without missing a beat, "Their teamwork is at that level sir, I will not dispute it. But the reason they _can _take on a C-rank mission, is because, unlike a grudging respect most other teams would have, my students actually _like _each other. They eat at a restaurant with each other every other day, they spar with each other when I have to go do something else, and they even train with each other after _my _training is over. As a matter of fact, if I had not picked specific jutsu's for them, that no one else on the team could use at the time, I'm fairly sure they would _share _their techniques."

That statement made Hiruzen's eyes widen, only for a second, as he soon calmed his features, and smiled.

"I see," He said, taking out his always present pipe, "Well then, if they have that level of chemistry, and _you _believe they are up to the task," He looked at Kakashi, and when he saw him nod, continued, "then I suppose I can't put good ninja to waste, can I?"

Kakashi smiled, his masked crinkling, and said, "Thank you, sir," He then turned and walked towards the door.

As the Hokage lit his pipe, he started, and said, "Kakashi, you won't tell anyone about the book, will you?"

Kakashi looked back, and with a (half) face that screamed indignation, said,

"Blasphemy!"

XXXXXX

Ah, the sweet rays of sunshine. It was such a grand day, birds singing in the sky, smiling children running around, the euphoria of the sun filling their eyes.

Or at least, that was what anyone _other _than Uchiha Sasuke would have thought.

Now Sasuke didn't really like sunny days. This wasn't because he was dark, mysterious, evil or whatever. He simply didn't like how the sun _always _got in his eyes. And besides, it was much harder to fight and sneak around in the sun. Now what Uchiha Sasuke did like, what rainy days. It allowed for stealth, and if rain didn't annoy you, but annoyed your opponent, an advantage. He liked the smell of a rainy day. It was rustic, and a treat one didn't often get in the land of Fire. He loved the feel of the rain drops falling on his had, and the water slipping down his face. And most of all, he liked rainy days because they allowed him to think. On a sunny day, there was so much... energy, and if he tried to get a second to himself, he knew _someone _was going to come up to him and ask him for a date, like that strange blonde chick.

Unfortunately, for Sasuke at least, today was a sunny day. He knew that today he was probably going to be stuck with the worst job for the D-ranks, or Kakashi would go a little extra hard on him during the spars. '_That stupid cat probably escaped aga- Oh._'

And there it was.

Running along the road, as Sasuke walked toward his team's training ground, was the striped fiend. He was filled with trepidation, but that trepidation was kicked out of the way and refilled with relief when he saw a team of ninja chasing the cat.

He happily started whistling as he walked along the road, absorbing the other team's displeasure and converting it to happiness, but instantly recognized it as a bad idea. The cat turned it's head to the left, and as their respective eyes met, feline and human, Sasuke saw the cats eyes widen in recognition. The cat instantly changed it's course and ran straight at Sasuke. Flashbacks filled his mind, a cat jumping on his face, and unfortunately, he started thinking before he started acting.

'_Oh god, that cat is going to jump on me, isn't it?FUUUUUU-_'

And the cat, in one swift movement that made Sasuke reminisce of his brother training, used all five of it's appendages (including the head) to claw and bite his head. Instantly, the cat used the platform formerly known as Sasuke's head to jump onto the roof, the force of the jump somehow throwing Sasuke to the ground, where he unceremoniously stepped on and used as a platform _again _for the chasing ninja.

As blood somehow squirted from his face from the shallow wounds, he stood up, and slowly started walking, in a melancholy, to his destination. No one noticed the abuse he was given, it was all very common in a ninja village.

There were no more events as he trekked to the bridge. Naruto and Sakura merely looked up to the cloudless sky and sighed when they saw his state. There were no words exchanged as he leaned on the bridge, waiting for Kakashi.

Three hours later, his eyes were twitching, while his hands started to crack and break the wood of the bridge railing. Naruto and Sakura seemed to be in a similar state, and as Kakashi appeared on the horizon, the murderous force of a thousand armies was directed at his being.

'_God damn it! He's usually only an hour and a half late, but this time he's freaking _four and a half _hours late. If we had showed up at the time he set, there would be one less Kakashi in this world!_'

Sasuke's murderous thoughts went unnoticed, obviously, as Kakashi walked up to the bridge, smiling that _god damned smile_, and said, "Congratulations Team 7! We have a mission today!"

This did nothing to help the teams mood, it actually, as a matter of fact, made them glare at Kakashi with a little more intensity than before, so all in all, enough killing intent to kill an average jounin. But Kakashi, being much more than average, simply chuckled and smiled even _more_, if such a thing were possible, shrugging off the malice.

"Now, now, stop that. I think this mission will cater to your tastes a little better than the previous ones we have been on," Kakashi said, pulling out his almost omnipresent book. This action seemed to anger Sakura quite a bit, though the boys thought it amusing. Sakura started towards her sensei, but completely unwilling to deal with a beat up teammate, Naruto diffused the situation with curiosity.

"How will this mission... cater to our tastes, in your own words, sensei-teme?" He asked, stopping Sakura, making her look on at Kakashi.

Kakashi, ignoring the bastard jab, leveled out his gaze and said, "It's a C-rank."

With that, he turned and walked away, his dumbstruck gennin barely remembering to follow him.

XXXXXX

As Naruto jumped through the trees, he thought about his C-rank mission. It was a simple mission, just guarding a village. These missions were the only _free_ missions that Konoha offered. As Hi no Kuni gained territory, Konoha decided to extend in offer to it's villages. In return for exclusivity in missions, and an _extremely _small fee, these villages became Konoha's protectorates, creating a proactive defense force, instead of a reactive one. The village protectors, usually a team of four chuunin for a small village like the one Naruto's team was going to, were restricted to the defense of the village and the destruction of any hostile force gathering within ten kilometers. This was to ensure the maximum mission rate, while still protecting their investments.

Usually a mission like this would last a few months. But, as they were only a group of three gennin and a jounin, this mission only last a week. They were something of a reprieve to the chuunin that usually guarded this village.

Naruto thought on what this mission meant. The reason the Hokage thought the chuunin needed a break was because the village was attacked nearly three times a week, almost every week. The village leader had yet to request a mission to eradicate the problem, as he thought the problem would resolve itself. He hoped that the village leader was right.

He was not. This would certainly lead to something referred to as 'The First Gennin Test'. The first kill of of a kunoichi or shinobi's life. Usually, a few weeks before his or her classes last test, the teacher at the academy would have a batch of criminals transported to his room, and chained up. The teacher would then instruct his students to slit the throat of the criminal. There is a criminal for each student.

The dropout rate for the academy is the highest around two weeks before the final test.

As Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto did not attend their final two years, they were not subject to this... _exercise_... and had not killed yet. Only one of them had been exposed to death, and even that was on a fairly small scale.

This would be their first true mission as ninja. Their official "hazing", judging them either worthy, or not.

XXXXXX

A footstep.

That's all they saw. A single foot blurring in and out of the screen at speeds most could never follow.

However, that's all they needed.

Blurring into action, the two ninja ran away from the video control room to the place where the footstep landed less than two minutes ago. Using eyes that were sharper than a fox's, the two discerned the size, shape and distinct pattern of the print. They began tracking the print, seeing and processing information at powerful speeds. The trail led out of the wooden complex into the forest surrounding it.

The pair sped along, until suddenly, the trail stopped. As they stood there, however, they were not looking for clues. One of them, a female, merely stated,

"They're hiding above us,"

It was a simple phrase, and nothing seemed to happen, except for a single leaf floating down from the trees. The female's companion, a male, stood directly under the leaf and merely waited for it to float down to him, where he caught the green capillary, and looked exactly 45 degrees to the left of him.

He spoke, slowly, "They went that way, towards the Iwa-Kusa border,"

She narrowed her eyes, and asked, "How many of them?"

He seemed to think for a second, and answered, "I think there were two of them. Should we engage?"

The woman shook her head, and said, "No. We aren't sure on their number or power level. Call in for backup."

The man nodded, put his left hand in a half tiger seal, and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he answered, "Done," The man looked at the leaf in his right hand, smiled goofily and said,

"Look, a leaf was the downfall for the Village Hidden in the _Leaves_. Get it?"

There was a loud cracking sound, and a grunt of pain, followed by the woman saying,

"Shut up, you idiot."

XXXXXX

"Ah, so our protectors arrive!" said the village leader, a rather short, stocky man, not particularly fat, but he certainly didn't give off the impression of skinniness. His hair was brown and short, laid atop an angular head, reminiscent of a rectangle, marred with a strained smile of joy. His face was happy, but his eyes gave away his obvious unhappiness. The man obviously didn't like Konoha, or it's ninja.

"It's lucky you got here when you did, any later and the bandits that have been here for _two years_ would have gotten us," The smile ran away from his face as he angrily looked at Kakashi, trying to prove a point.

Kakashi sighed. Speaking slowly, he said, "The bandits operate out of an area that is thirty kilometers from here. If you wish the bandit camp destroyed, please request a mission from Konoha. A B-rank pay would suffice for a camp of such size, as there are no shinobi. In fact, I would gladly take care of it right now, if you signed in contract for the mission," The village leader was obviously repulsed at the idea of paying for something he thought should be free, and turned away without a reply.

"Well then, if you have no further grievances, we will leave and find a place to stay in. Do you have a place you can recommend?"

The leader didn't even look like he acknowledged the words, but said, "Touzo Manami's was the place that the previous four stayed at. She'll probably be used to it by now. Down the road to your left, and then take a right. It's the green one,"

Kakashi nodded, and turned away, walking out the door. His three protege bowed, and followed him.

As the quartet walked down the street, they noticed some of the glances the village people threw at them. They were stares of contempt, poorly hidden by some notion of respect. Noticing his genin's confusion, he explained.

"Most of these townspeople have the same mindset as that village leader. They think that their village is an exception to the contracts they made, as the bandits almost exclusively target this town. They think that the bandits are getting away with crimes because of a technicality,"

Sakura looked at Kakashi in confusion, and said, "But sensei, aren't they? The bandits are quite obviously exploiting the contract to escape justice. _Isn't_ this town an exception?"

Kakashi replied without missing a beat, "No Sakura, this village is not an exception. Any bandit with any sort of a brain would take advantage of the contract, and rightfully guesses that most villages will be too greedy, and expect to pity Konoha into attacking them, free of charge. Any good bandit leader would probably stay for a month or so in one spot, and then go raid somewhere else. Bandits will do anything to stay alive, and to make a profit. Every once in a while, a village will order a mission for a bandit camp to be eliminated straight off the bat, but these villages soon gain a reputation, and no one but the most cocky of bandits will raid the town. The only way this village is special in any way, is that usually, after five months or so, the villagers will get fed up and request a mission if the bandits decide to stay. These bandits have long overstayed their welcome, but the villagers are just too stubborn. More likely than not, this town will probably be completely looted in a few years if there is nothing done about it,"

Kakashi's speech had taken them down the whole block, and after turning around the bend, they saw the green house, four houses down from where they were. Only three of the group took in this information, as Sakura was too focused on the subject.

She rebuked Kakashi's reply, saying, "So, if I interpreted you correctly, you're saying that if these villagers don't request a mission, we're just going to let them die?" The look on her face was indignant.

Kakashi stopped in his tracks, compelling the other three to stop as well, and looked Sakura in the eyes. He spoke slowly, not as if speaking to a child, but like he wanted to put emphasis into his words.

"Sakura, there is one thing you need to understand, right now. In our world, this world of secrets and death, morals are something that simply don't exist. Sure, Konoha helps other people in need, but is not because we are good, but it is because we are selfish. We _always_ want something in return. We give out favors, not charity. If Konoha started giving out charity, soon, charity would become expected of us. And that one day that we don't give out charity, it will lead to revolution. And there is always one thing about revolution. If there are enough people for the revolution, the changes will _always_ take place. So when you think it's just terrible to let these people die, and we should do something to help, for free, just remember my words. And ask yourself a question:

"'Which do I like more? This town that I have no connections to, or Konoha, the place where I was born and raised, where all my friends and loved ones are?' If you are in the right state of mind, Sakura, I think you may be able to choose the correct answer," And without waiting for a reply, he started walking away, the stunned Naruto and Sasuke barely remembering to follow, and leaving Sakura behind, paralyzed by his words.

Long after the three boys walked into the green house, she turned and walked in the opposite direction, contemplating.

Contemplating her entire reason for being what she was.

XXXXXX

I am fairly sorry about the late update. Shit happened, and quite frankly, I forgot about this fic, until I had gotten some recent reviews and alerts. I have decided to update now, instead of waiting the extra three months to get the other six thousand words for this little arc done.

This is also unbeta'd, the beta'd version will come out in about a week.

Just one thing. Next chapter, there will be action, there will be fight scenes and it will be (hopefully) glorious. Anyways, hoped you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did, review, because reviewing makes me want to update.

Ciao!


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